Summary: | 碩士 === 嘉南藥理科技大學 === 生物科技研究所 === 92 === Febrile seizure or febrile convulsion, an event induced by fever, is the most prevalent age-specific form of seizure in infants and young children, and usually occurs between the ages of 3 months to 5 years. The recurrence rate is about 30% and approximately 2-3% of suffering children are likely to become epilepsy in the future. However, febrile seizures result in immediate or latent sequelae such as hippocampal neuronal loss and temporal lobe epilepsy is still a subject of controversy. This study provides a new animal model of febrile seizures using the infant rat. Febrile seizures were induced in 7, 14, 21, and 28-day-old rats by intraperitoneal administration of interleukin-1β (IL-1b, 1 μg/kg). In this manner, differences in pups’ seizures could be noted according to their differing stages of development. The most pronounced effect was found in 7-day-old rats, where the onset of IL-1β-induced seizures and tonic/clonic convulsions far surpassed those found in other age groups. Dose-dependent febrile seizures induced by IL-1β (1 ng/kg-10 mg/kg) were also determined in 7-day-old rats. Pretreament of MK-801 (a potent NMDA-receptor blocker, 10 mg/kg), APV (a NMDA-receptor blocker, 10 mg/kg), L-NAME (a NOS inhibitor, 100 mg/kg), dexamethasone (10 mg/kg) and diazepam (a GABA-receptor blocker, 10 mg/kg) were found to inhibit febrile seizures onset time, seizures severity and also reduced the brain nitric oxide production and levels. The data suggested that nitric oxide mayb play an important role in febrile seizure development.
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